LONDON: The rush of financial firms setting up in Abu Dhabi to tap the emirate’s wealth funds and Middle East markets will continue at pace, the official in charge of expanding its financial hub has predicted.
Abu Dhabi, which holds 90 percent of the UAE’s oil reserves, has accelerated efforts to diversify its economy, leaning on its vast sovereign funds that together manage almost $2 trillion of capital.
Abu Dhabi Global Markets still lags Dubai, but the number of firms registered in the center rose by 32 percent last year, and the amount of assets managed by firms there grew 245 percent, as the likes of BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, AXA, PGIM and hedge fund Marshall Wace all set up or registered funds there.
Earlier on Tuesday, Harrison Street, a US firm focused on alternative real estate assets with about $56 billion in assets under management, said it was opening an office in Abu Dhabi.
The center reported last week that new operating licenses increased 67 percent in the first quarter of this year, taking the total number of firms there past 2,380.
“We still have very strong growth,” ADGM’s Chief Market Development Officer, Arvind Ramamurthy said, noting that the pipeline of new firms looked strong for the rest of the year, but refrained from giving a forecast for asset growth.
“Will it be 245 percent again this year? I wish. Let’s see,” he said in an interview late on Monday.
Firms from Japan, India, and China are also setting up in growing numbers, including asset managers and financial institutions, as well as crypto and artificial intelligence firms, Ramamurthy said, providing no further details.
With cryptocurrency regulations in place since 2018, Abu Dhabi has become a major center for such investment, with sector heavyweights such as Circle and Coinbase represented there, while Abu Dhabi-backed investment group MGX has recently invested $2 billion worth of crypto tokens — issued by US President Donald Trump’s World Liberty Financial venture — in the world’s biggest crypto exchange, Binance.
Abu Dhabi expects more rapid growth for its financial center
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Abu Dhabi expects more rapid growth for its financial center
- New operating licenses increased 67% in the first quarter
- Number of firms registered in the center rose by 32% last year
SIDF finances 5k projects with over $53.3bn
RIYADH: The Saudi Industrial Development Fund has approved up to 5,000 projects — representing about 40 percent of the Kingdom’s industrial base — with a total investment value nearing SR200 billion ($53.3 billion), according to Khalil Al-Nammari, executive vice president for strategic planning and business development at the fund, who spoke to Al-Eqtisadiah.
This brought the fund’s total approved investments since its establishment in the 1970s to more than SR700 billion.
During the Vision 2030 period alone, the fund approved loans ranging between SR86 billion and SR90 billion, Al-Nammari said.
These loans attracted nearly SR190 billion in investments, highlighting the scale of expansion and growth in industrial lending and related sectors.
Repositioning within national ecosystem
Al-Nammari noted that the fund has repositioned itself within the national economic ecosystem in recent years, benefiting from the major transformation driven by Saudi Vision 2030.
He said the fund, which marked its 50th anniversary last year, has shifted from its traditional role of financing industry to a broader mandate covering industry, energy, mining, and logistics, adding that the expansion required a comprehensive strategic shift in lending mechanisms, services, and programs offered to these new sectors.
The fund launched innovative financing solutions and established the Industrial Fund Academy, which has so far trained more than 11,000 trainees from the public and private sectors.
According to the executive vice president, the scale of work and results achieved since the launch of Vision 2030 is equivalent to what was achieved over 36 years since the fund's establishment, underscoring the momentum generated by the vision and its derived strategies.
Long-term development partnership
Al-Nammari stressed that the fund's success is measured by the ability of projects to be built, operated, exported, and scaled, not only by the size of financing, pointing out that relationships with clients often extend 15 to 20 years due to the long-term nature of development loans.
On measuring development impact, Al-Nammari said economic feasibility studies, market analysis, and engineering assessments form the foundation before any loan is approved.
He added that the SIDF evaluates project performance after operations begin by monitoring financial statements, operational progress, production capacity, and sales growth, as well as export capabilities.
He added that the fund also assesses job creation and quality, all of which are indicators factored into lending decisions from the outset and monitored throughout the loan term.
As part of this effort, the fund conducts regular visits to more than 1,000 active projects in its portfolio to track construction and operational phases, assess financing needs, and provide solutions, advisory support, and academic services.
The goal is to ensure factories achieve their production targets, adhere to business plans, and enter local and global markets, contributing to industrial growth, higher exports, and greater sector contribution to gross domestic product.
New financing channels to attract capital
In the coming years, the fund will continue to focus on the sectors identified by the national strategy, spanning 12 areas, including food and pharmaceutical security, as well as future-oriented sectors such as clean energy, hydrogen, and electric vehicle components, as well as renewable energy, and supporting supply chains.
Al-Nammari said the fund has recently focused on creating new financing channels aimed at attracting capital from the private sector, banks, and investment funds.
In this context, the fund has launched the SIDF Investment Co., which holds existing commitments of SR50 million in funds and firms that support investment in the industrial sector.
Moreover, it has introduced the Supply Chain Financing program, the largest of its kind globally, aimed at providing financing solutions for the invoices of suppliers to major national companies.
The program is currently operating with firms such as Saudi Aramco and the Saudi Electricity Co., helping to support national supply chains and enhance the sustainability of small, medium, and advanced industrial projects alike.
